Life as a School Counselor....

I have been a School Counselor now for two and half years and I have to say I have my days where I feel like changing my career path lol. Serious... this is not easy. I love what I do and how I help the students, but it can be very draining at times. We stay late to help students with career paths, applications for schools and editing essays for scholarships. On top of that, all the parent meetings to talk to the parents about their child failing. I can see why when I can a teen the teachers had summers off, children can really drain the life out of you. Furthermore, the staff and parents can be a bit much as well. All the pointing fingers and not taking responsibility for their actions get to me at times. But I would not change what I do for anything.

So, do I have superpowers...I feel I do. I must if I get up every morning to deal with 2000 plus students every day. Some of my powers consist of mindset changing. Now, it’s not a Jedi type of change lol. I wish I can do that, but I do use my experience and words of wisdom to get my students to see things differently. Now this does not happen overnight. I know this for a fact because at first the students on my caseload was not used to me. I did not have them in their 11th grade year. It took time and consistency and building a relationship with them. Now, I can’t get them out my office. I had to prove myself to be a good person first and someone they could trust and that takes time. Now, there are still some students I never see, but that is okay; if they need me, I am here.

Reading people is another one of my superpowers that I feel I have and what makes me a good counselor. To be able to seat and read a person body language and read what they are not saying and use it to help guide the student to their goals. I remember I had a parent in my office, and I read her so well she was caught off guard. She was enabling her son and installing fear in him because she was scare of doing things. I told her that her son sees her fears does not want to do new things. The father agreed. The mother started to see what she was doing to her son. I see this a lot; the enable, hovering and codependency parents have with their children. But that is another paper for me to write when I feel down.

I have so many superpowers that life and experiences has giving me, but I feel that best one and the one I saved for last, is the ability to care beyond measure. What wakes me up each morning is knowing I able to plant seeds that would grow in their own time. School counselors do not really change the youth, we provide words of wisdom that be turn into action. We give the tools to grow and the knowledge to lead lives. Seed of wisdom are planted and will grow because they are watered but others. When students are opened to changes the seeds get watered and over time the students will grow into the person they are supposed to be if they meet the right people along the way.

I am drained, tried, and sometimes ready to quit…. Heck yes, but being a Professional School Counselor is not just my what I do… it’s who I am. I counsel, I care, guide, and I speak words that help students grow!!